Making private web search accessible
We reimagined the Startpage web search to be more accessible to a wider, modern and privacy-curious audience.
Introduction
Startpage is a search engine focused mainly on privacy. They realize this by refusing to store user data and completely removing trackers used by the likes of Google. With the mission of raising awareness of and protecting people’s worldwide right to privacy, they approached us for a new look. This look aims to target a specific, wider audience; one who is curious to improving their privacy on the web.
Challenge
Building on available brand guides to create a new online appearance in order to speak to a wider audience.
Deliverables
We set out to create a new design language with new and improved typography elements. We also provided them with a grid system and contrast rating as well as creating an onboarding experience.
Pronounced, Modern and Fast Typography
Typography is essential for the style of a search engine, as a big chunk of the interface is text-based. Combining strong typefaces worked perfectly to ensure a unique identity while keeping the text very legible for functional elements. We elaborated on the brand guidelines and molded the outlines to a solid typography kit.
We ended up chosing function over form and defaulted to the high performance approach, using default operating systems fonts.
Aiding search through color contrast
Similarly to typography, conventions of color are a useful tool to ensure a quick onboarding for users. We tweaked a conventional color palette ever so slightly to match up with the new Startpage brand, giving it a more unique tone compared to other players in the market.
Onboarding users
The new Startpage.com is quite a big change with the old version, which can make old or new users feel uneasy. The landing page elaborates further on why this change happened and why you can care about your privacy. While hard to explain, the visual style helps by making this more accessible to a wider audience.
Results
Since the launch of the new design in 2018, the search engine has seen a steady increase in users and some (positive) attention from the Dutch Government as a leading example concerning improvement in privacy laws.
